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If ever there was a vital source of life that does not advertise itself well it is soil. It is so misunderstood that we named the stuff that we like least of all after it: “dirt.”

Hurling insults in the name of life itself makes about as much sense as driving on the parkway and parking in the driveway. Think of this the next time you are tempted to call someone a “dirty so and so.” Horticulturally speaking, it is actually a compliment.

An essential ingredient in great dirt is humus. This is the organically composted stuff that you haul out of your composter. It is a rather complicated brew of ingredients that include insects, protozoans, beneficial bacteria (and I underline beneficial) and mycorrhizae. Together they make up a thriving colony of interdependent living bodies that depend on one another to produce a foundation for all of the plants that we grow. The better quality and the more active your humus, the better your plants will grow. As I have said before, if you feed your soil it will feed your plants, and there will be no need for you to feed them with either a synthetic or natural food.

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Humus-rich garden soil is valued for the presence of microbial “glues.” These are good glues that allow the nutrition inherent in good soil to attach themselves to clay particles in your existing soil to create a larger aggregate of soil. These have generous spaces between them that cause garden soil to “open up” and allow water to move through it while retaining moisture at the same time. As contradictory as that sounds, it is the most useful stuff in your yard and the whole reason why Uncle Bernie has fabulous tomatoes.

The goal in adding humus to your soil is to create a texture that is similar to that of chocolate cake. Open pores between soil particles that are rich in natural nutrients are bound together with the aforementioned glue or mycorrhizae. If you were a plant you would be saying “mmmmm.” But you aren’t and good soil needs a spokesperson — so here I am to tell you that the first thing that you should do before you put shovel to soil is to add generous quantities of this stuff in the form of composted manure, yard waste or bags of compost purchased from your garden retailer.

I just lay compost directly on to the surface of the soil and let the earthworms pull it down.

Perennials for Part Shade

I would disappoint you if I did not provide some information on great plants that you should consider as you cruise the aisles at the garden centre in May, the greatest planting month of them all. For gardeners, shopping this time of year for new plants to add to our perennial collection is like taking a kid to a candy store. No, it is better. Recent statistics tell us that Canadians actually make 14 visits to the plant store each year, most of them in the spring.

For part shade, like that found under the shade of a tree or on the east or northwest corner of the house, I recommend the following plants:

•Heuchera (Coral Bells): My, what a versatile and beautiful plant in the foreground of the perennial garden or shrub border. I love the long blossom period of up to six weeks, long stems topped with short panicles of bell-shaped flowers that hang there for cutting. Bring them indoors and enjoy them on the kitchen table. Mix them with some greens from the garden and you have a great homemade celebration of the garden in a vase. Coral Bells are winter hardy, insect and disease resistant and many varieties have colourful foliage that provides a well qualified attraction in the garden in its own right. Look for the new variety “Stainless Steel” featuring metallic silver-green foliage, purple veins and eggplant-purple undersides.

• Hosta (Plantain lily): Many people think of hostas as great shade plants. Truth is they perform much better in semi shade. Best known for foliage that provides a wide variety of colour and colour combinations, they also produce a great flower that attracts hummingbirds. The family is over 8,000 varieties/cultivars strong now so there is no end to the collecting that you could do of this plant. Look for the new ‘White Feather’. As it emerges from the soil it looks like white flames. The white foliage that emerges in spring turns to cream and yellow later on, and then develops striations of green that fill in by mid summer. Sounds like a hosta that can’t make up its mind what it wants to be. Oh well, it makes for an interesting conversation piece.

•Pulmonalia (Lungwort): One of the earliest perennials to emerge from the soil after a long winter, this is a welcome addition to any semi shade garden. The foliage puts on a pretty good show on its own, but the flowers, which range from white to pink to burgundy, are a great spring time attraction. They work nicely when planted on their own in the foreground of a garden, they lend themselves to rock gardens and they can perform well when planted en-mass and used as a ground cover.

•Polygonatum (Solomon’s Seal): In bloom now in many Toronto area gardens; this is a wonderful woodland plant that works well in partial sun. Known best for its long, leggy stem that arches straight out of the ground, producing creamy white bell shaped flowers that hang straight down, providing the perfect place for garden fairies to play hide and seek. Or, one might imagine, anyway. The standard native species Solomon’s Seal grows to about a meter high.

•Dicentra (Bleeding Heart): Grandma grew it for a reason. It was showy, greeted the spring with a burst of colour and loved the east side of the house. Now we have ‘King of Hearts’, which blooms for weeks on end and even when it is done blooming the foliage stands up, looking fernlike with it’s serrated leaves.

When you plant your semi-shade loving plants out you will prepare the soil well, won’t you?

Question of the Week

Q: My son is getting married in our backyard this September. Can you tell me what to plant now for blooms this Fall?

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author and broadcaster. You can sign up for his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com, and watch him on CTV Canada AM every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. You can reach Mark through the “contact” button on his website and follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook. Mark’s latest book, Canadian Lawn & Garden Secrets, is available at Home Hardware and all major bookstores.

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